"A rose garden. A woman with white hair. An embossed envelope from the palace. 'Lucy Forrester, for services to literature, you are nominated for a New Year's Honour.' Her hands shake. But it's not excitement. It's rage. For five decades, she's performed angry poems, attacked government policy on everything from Suez to Trident ... Lucy knows who she is. Rebel, activist, word-wielder, thorn in the side of establishment. Not a national bloody treasure. Whatever this is - a parting gesture, a final act of revenge, or the cruellest of jokes - it can only be the work of one man. Dominic Marchmont, outspoken literary critic and her on/off lover of fifty years, whose funeral begins in under an hour. Perhaps, suggests husband Ralph, the invitation isn't the insult it seems? What if Dominic - the man they both loved - has left her an opportunity?"--Publisher's description.